


and I'm here wishing you could stay a little longer

by green_tea31



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Getting Together, Idiots in Love, M/M, The soulmate goose of enforcement - Freeform, that's apparently a thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25229899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_tea31/pseuds/green_tea31
Summary: The goose waddles into Jack’s apartment building two days after his return from hunting down Kovacs. It stares at Jack, stopping just in front of him where he’s about to turn the key in the lock.Beady dark eyes gaze at him balefully.“This isn’t happening,” Jack mumbles to himself and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath, silently counting to ten, before he opens his eyes again.The goose is still glaring at him.Mac and Jack are idiots in love. The Soulmate Goose of Enforcement shows them the error of their ways.
Relationships: Jack Dalton/Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 75





	and I'm here wishing you could stay a little longer

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't really been able to write anything constructive lately. Whenever I sit down, all that comes out is silliness or smut. So I've decided to just post what I have and hope that it kicks my mind into wanting to work on my wips again.  
> Also, I'm almost halfway through grad school now and half of it has been online. The world has become a strange, strange place.  
> The Soulmate Goose of Enforcement is a thing. It's been a while since I've read a fic with this premise (grad school means I've been struggling to find the time to read much fic in general, seriously, you've all been putting out so much amazing fic, my to read list is almost longer than my to write list at the moment) ahem, where was I? Right. I couldn't just not put a macdalton spin on it at some point. 
> 
> Self-betaed. As always. 
> 
> Title from "Stay A Little Longer" by the Brothers Osborne.

The goose waddles into Jack’s apartment building two days after his return from hunting down Kovacs. It stares at Jack, stopping just in front of him where he’s about to turn the key in the lock.

Beady dark eyes gaze at him balefully.

“This isn’t happening,” Jack mumbles to himself and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath, silently counting to ten, before he opens his eyes again.

The goose is still glaring at him.

He turns the key. Every second feels like an eternity. Jack wishes he hadn’t waved away Mac’s offer to come up with him and help him get settled again. The door opens with an ominous creak.

The goose cocks its head; Jack didn’t even know geese could do that.

…

There’s a story people in Jack’s family tell each other – more of a legend really. It goes like this: Jack’s great, great-something grandfather was kind of an asshole in his younger years. He’d had a fair hand for breaking in horses, yes, and people came from every corner of the still young country back then to trade with him, but his interpersonal skill left something to be desired. Coincidentally, his name also happened to be Jack – the first Jack in Jack’s family, no matter that the current Jack is actually called Junior.

There were a lot of Jacks before Jack in Jack’s family is the point.

The future Mrs Jack Dalton was less than enthused the first time she met the man who would one day become her husband. He insulted her baking, and they spend the next five to six years sniping at each other after church and ignoring each other the rest of the week.

And then the goose came.

The Soulmate Goose of Enforcement. The legendary bird of the waterfowl species that will force you to look at your life choices and inevitably set you on a collision course with the love of your life.

Most people don’t actually believe the goose exists until it quite literally drops on their head.

Or waddles up to them in front of their apartment.

…

Jack opens the door to his apartment, throws himself inside and slams the door shut behind him.

The goose honks at him accusingly from the chair in his kitchen.

_Fuck._

…

“Jack?” Mac carefully steps around the goose sitting on Jack’s rug. Jack’s been trying to pretend the goose doesn’t exist for nearly two days now.

It doesn’t work.

“What?” He asks. Mac takes a few more steps until he can sneak a look at whatever Jack’s currently whipping up on the kitchen counter.

“Is that going to be ice cream?” Mac asks. It’s either a testament to Mac’s ability to ignore things that that’s the first thing he asks, or proof of just how addicted to ice cream the kid is. Jack suspects a combination of the two. He only bought that damn ice cream machine for his partner after all. Jack doesn’t actually like ice cream all that much.

He puts down the whisk and looks up. There’s still a question in those baby blues – a question he definitely doesn’t want to answer.

“Yes, it’s a goose,” Jack grinds out. He grabs the bowl with more force than necessary and pours the contents into the machine, throwing a surreptitious glance at the man he’s been in love with for longer than he really likes to think about.

The goose honks knowingly.

“So we’re ignoring the goose in the room?” Mac asks, grinning, and grabs an apple from the counter, and just, _god_ , Jack has missed him. Missed him so desperately over the last two years that sometimes he couldn’t _breathe_.

The kid still looks at him expectantly, and normally Jack would respond with a light-hearted quip of his own, would grin an easy grin, and they’d laugh at their silliness together.

But there’s the damn goose in the room.

“I can just leave if you’re expecting company, you know?” Mac says, and there’s something in his voice that Jack doesn’t like, something he absolutely hates. It sounds like Mac doesn’t think he’s welcome, doesn’t think that Jack wants him there – in his apartment or in his life.

Doesn’t think that the goddamn goose could be for him – and Jack can’t even with how preposterous that is – the thought that the goose would be there for anyone but the beautiful, blond man in front of him; the one Jack’s been following around for nigh on a decade now.

But that’s his own fault, isn’t it? Mac left and came back when Jack needed him. Jack left and didn’t return when Charlie died – didn’t even return when Mac’s _dad_ died. He can tell himself that hunting down Kovacs was worth it as often as he wants to, one look at the kid whenever James MacGyver comes up brings all of Jack’s carefully erected card houses crashing down with a vengeance.

Jack takes a deep breath and steps around the counter. His voice, when he speaks, is hoarse with emotion. “Mac – you gotta know…there’s no one else I’m expecting right now.” And god – the looks on his partner’s face breaks his heart. Mac trusts so very few people when it comes to this – _especially_ when it comes to this, and he’s been hurt so often that Jack is half afraid of driving him away if he so much as hints at how much he feels for the kid.

Mac frowns, a question in his eyes. He glances at the goose sitting at their feet.

“But…”

“It’s you,” Jack says. He raises a hand, fingers trailing over the sensitive skin of Mac’s throat, until he can tilt that beloved face up to look into those blue, blue eyes. “It’s always been you, kid. I haven’t always been good at showing how much you matter to me, ‘specially lately, but I _promise_ you – there’s no one else.” 

Mac swallows, closing his eyes, but not before Jack can read the hint of doubt hidden there. He tries not to cry – Mac hasn’t doubted Jack since they were both still under the hot, Afghani sun.

“ _Please_ , Mac…”

“I…”

The goose hisses and flaps a wing. The sudden sound, combined with the unexpected motion has Mac stumbling. Jack catches him.

They look at the goose. The goose looks back expectantly.

Mac chuckles wetly. “Well, if the goose wants me to…”

“Hey,” Jack tightens his arms around Mac. “This is _your_ decision. Not mine, not anyone else’s and especially not the goddamn goose’s – you hear me?”

The kid relaxes into his hold, eyes looking at him in wonder.

“I know, Jack – I _know_ …”

Mac tilts his head forward until they’re breathing the same air, until Jack can take in the scent of Mac’s aftershave and something underneath, something that is just indefinably _Mac_.

Jack closes the rest of the distance and loses himself in Mac, soft lips pressing against his own, nimble fingers trying to get under the waistband of Jack’s jeans. They only stop kissing when the need for air becomes paramount. Jack leans his forehand against Mac’s and just _breathes_.

They don’t notice, not then, but the goose is already gone. 


End file.
